Thursday, August 13, 2009

Why hello, blog-world! I'm just writing a quick post to let you all know that I am not, in fact, dead. Here's what I've been up to:

Number of states visited: 6

Number of miles traveled: 3643 (Yes, we need another oil change. It lasted 1 month.)

Needless to say, I have been slightly busy. I left Denver in mid-July and traveled to the following places:Kalona, IAWest Unity, OHShillington, PAGoshen, INAngola, INOmaha, NE

There was first a family reunion in PA, followed by fanatic wedding prep in OH, followed by said wedding in Goshen, IN.

And what a wedding it was! I will devote at least one real post to the wedding, but it's taking some time to process. I hate hate hate using the word 'perfect,' but our wedding was seriously just that. Yeah, it rained in the morning and my carefully prepared reception set-up didn't go just as planned and there was a broken window at the church--but it was perfect. The ceremony is vividly sewed to my mind, and I remember almost every detail. The church was filled with gorgeous singing and people, vivid flowers & paintings. My cheeks ached from smiling. I apparently hit the microphone in my eagerness to kiss my new husband. The reception was beautiful and the food was delicious--I actually ate it!

James and I were completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from our family and friends. A few weeks before the wedding, we sent out an email detailing how folks could help out, where to meet, and when. I wasn't really sure if anyone would show up. But oh my goodness, did people show up! We had so much help and everything came together like a dream. I was almost crying because it took approximately 30 minutes to set up the chairs in the church b/c everyone was calmly and diligently helping. The morning of the wedding I was at the cabin with Lindsy to put my bouquet together. At 8 am (!!) around 10 people showed up to move chairs and tables. TEN! And more just kept coming! During the ceremony, we stood at the front of the church for the last hymn, and it was amazing to look across the congregation and know that each person was there for me and James. Amazing.

Also, James and I were both pretty much eerily calm the entire weekend. We got to Goshen on Monday, and got a TON of stuff done. By Wednesday, we had 3 hours to sit around at the library and veg out. On Thursday morning, we looked at each other and could not think of a single thing we HAD to do. So we went to Goshen and sat outside the Brew with friends, just hanging out, laughing and talking. Periodically someone would say, "You're just sitting here. You're so calm. This is amazing!" And it was amazing. Every person we met said, "You seem pretty calm for getting married on Saturday." And then James and I would look at each other and think, "Is there something we're missing? Is there something we should be stressing about?"

We never thought of anything.

I'm not trying to say "We were perfect blah blah no stress blah." But we did not feel the need to take control of everything. Vendors stared at me when I said, "I don't really care. Do what you think would be best." 'I don't care' became my mantra the week before the wedding. Oh, the tent's not in the spot we wanted, but I don't care. It's raining on the morning of my wedding-where's the umbrella? Otherwise, I don't care. Apparently this is crazy wedding talk. Apparently I was supposed to be stressed out and focused on every teensy, bitsy detail. Earlier in the wedding planning, I was afraid I would be stressed about everything. But I wasn't. To any future brides who might possibly be reading this, know that there is hope.

The wedding was beautiful. Now real life is beginning. James and I were pretty grumpy while driving back to Denver. But literally, we drove into Denver and started to smile. And we have been crazy happy ever since. Denver is home. We're working on making our apartment look like a home as well.

Now I have officially written enough. I'm off to look for books and DVDs at the library. More wedding posts soon, I hope!